To Soothe Away Your Ache
by Em Dixon
Summary: After a night of partying, Zuko has the worst hangover ever. Good thing his four year old daughter has come to the rescue.


**To Soothe Away Your Ache  
><strong>

Zuko sighed and buried his face deeper in the pillow. His head was pounding awfully, and even though the heavy curtains were closed against the noon light, it was still too bright in his room. The past night's events were a mystery to him. The only details that he remembered were that Sokka was involved, and it was his twenty-ninth birthday. Other than that, he remembered _nothing_.

He chanced opening one eye, but was met with two, large gold ones less than five inches from his face. They'd been there for a while. He was hoping they'd go away. They did not.

"Hi daddy. Mommy says you're not feeling well."

"No, I am not."

Zuko closed his eyes again, hoping his four year old daughter, Ira, would leave him to wallow in the worst hangover he'd ever had. If he was still alive in a few hours, he made a mental note to hurt Sokka. This was his fault. He opened his eye again. Ira was still there, still smiling at him.

"Want me to tell you a story, daddy? Stories always make me feel better."

Sighing, Zuko nodded. At least she wasn't speaking too loudly, and it had to be a positive sign that even this little bit of noise didn't send him reeling. He was trying to be optimistic, but when close to twelve hours of your life are an utter blank, that was rather hard to do. Ira climbed up on the bed, crawling across Zuko to get to the other side of him. He groaned loudly as Ira kneed him in the back. Seriously. There was an entire side of the bed that had absolutely nothing on it, and she decided to crawl over him.

"Ok," she said enthusiastically, poking him in the shoulder to get his attention. "This is the story of the time you and Uncle Sokka rescued Papakoda from the Boiling Rock."

Zuko smiled, even though it made his temples throb. When he was one and just learning to talk, Zuko and Katara's oldest, Kurzu failed miserably at saying Grandpa Hakoda, and mashed the two words together to get Papakoda. It stuck, and he subsequently introduced Hakoda to his younger siblings as Papakoda. They now thought it was his name and downright refused to call him anything else. Hakoda made a valiant effort to teach them, but had only been met with horrified stares. Kurzu said he was making up this 'new name' just to tease them, and had gone on to teach Sokka and Suki's children his 'proper name,' as well.

"Daddy, you have to listen or you'll never know how the story goes."

Right. He turned to give his daughter his full attention.

"Ok. So, Papakoda was in jail, but not because he was a bad guy. It was because… I don't remember why, but you and Uncle Sokka had to rescue him because he couldn't do it by himself. And then you were on the thing, and you were going like this: Firebending Slice! Hiya!"

Zuko cringed as Ira stood on the bed and mimicked Sokka's stupid chop, swinging her hands through the air, her face scrunched in concentration, her black hair flying all around her. She threw in a couple kicks for good measure. Each move had some stupid Sokka-like catchphrase, and now Ira was moving all over the bed punching and kicking, and Zuko wasn't sure whether he should laugh or throw up, but he was sure one would turn into the other if she didn't stop.

"Ira, Ira sweetheart, let's not 'hiya' on the bed. You're going to make me throw up." He flapped his hand at her, because it was all the excess movement he could spare. He dropped his arm limply on the bed.

"Want me to hold your hair while you barf?"

Zuko half chuckled, half groaned. Ira didn't need to get so excited about the possibility of him throwing up.

"You have such pretty hair, daddy." Now she was petting his head. "Can I brush your hair, daddy? Please?"

"As long as you do it quietly."

"Yay!"

Ira rolled off the bed, of course, rolling over him rather than utilizing the completely empty side of the bed, which was also much closer to the vanity. When she came back, she climbed over him again. She then sat on his back, and very gently began brushing his hair while she hummed. At least that was somewhat soothing, and was a far cry from the way Kya brushed his hair. For some reason, his daughters—all three of them—had an odd fascination with his hair, and demanded to play in it. Three year old Kya didn't so much brush as whack her dolls in the head and yank the brush around. She'd quickly lost all daddy hair brushing privileges until she learned to brush properly. Instead, Ira put her in charge of hair ornaments. It was a good thing that Kya wasn't there. Zuko would not only be hungover, but he would have a million little red bows in his hair. He blamed Katara for Kya's unnatural obsession with hair bows. She refused to be seen without one.

"Where's your mother?" Zuko asked, his voice somewhat muffled by the pillow.

"Papakoda and Gramma Ursa went to town, and Papakoda said they'd be back by dinner, but I don't think they will. I think Papakoda likes spending time with Gramma Ursa, even if he won't admit it. Uncle Iroh and Aunt Jun went to work at the Jasmine Dragon, but Mommy says Aunt Jun doesn't work. She just sits at a table by the kitchen and drinks free tea. She says that Aunt Jun is lazy and she should help Uncle if she's going to go there every day, and that Uncle shouldn't let her sit there and do nothing. And then Sifu Birdman and Nanazula were in the gardens, but I couldn't find them, so I looked for Uncle Sokka, but Aunt Suki said that he might roll out of bed for dinner, but that I should leave him alone, and then I went with Aunt Suki to the market…"

Zuko sighed as Ira went on about the whereabouts of their entire family, including more nicknames. It was Sokka's oldest son, Sos, who'd first called Aang Sifu Birdman. Because, he insisted, Aang could fly like a bird. And how Kurzu managed to get Nanazula from Aunt Azula was beyond him. He'd learned to stop questioning the way children's minds worked. Ira made it her business to know as much as possible about what was going on in the palace. If Yina ever got tired of knowing everything, she could take a step back, and Ira would fill her shoes just nicely. Zuko listened patiently to Ira, knowing that he could glean useful information from her detailed laundry list of what was going on.

"And then mommy was headed to the library because Kurzu said he saw two of the servants kissing again. Ew. It's gross, and mommy was really mad, but after that, she went to the kitchens to get some tea, and she told me it would make you and Uncle Sokka feel better, and then I said I'd come check on you."

Ira was braiding his hair, now, humming again, her report on their family finally done.

"Hey, daddy? Want to know a secret?" she whispered.

Zuko smiled. The throbbing had lessened, and as long as he didn't try to sit up, he felt not dead.

"If it's a secret, you're not supposed to tell," he whispered back.

"But no one made me promise to keep this secret. I can share my own secret, right?"

"Sure."

"I saw Papakoda and Gramma Ursa kissing in the moon peach grove."

Zuko laughed, because he couldn't ever see that happening. He didn't doubt Ira's sincerity in believing what she saw; she valued her secrets too much to make something up and risk being called a liar, but this was one of those 'I'll believe it when I see it' things.

"Daddy, it's not funny! I did see them." She was pouting now.

"Sorry, pup, I didn't mean to laugh. It's just…well, I can't imagine the two of them together."

"Well, _I_ saw it."

"Ira, are you bothering your father?"

Katara was standing in the doorway, a tray with the tea service in her hands. She was smiling softly at the sight, and Zuko tried to give her a nice smile back, but he was only feeling not dead, and wasn't going to push it. Katara shook her head and came forward, setting the tea on the bedside table.

"I'm not bothering him at all, am I, daddy?"

"Not at all, pup."

Katara picked Ira up, setting her gently on the ground and sending her on her way. Finally, _finally_, someone decided to use a bit of common sense, and Katara used the empty side of the bed to get close to him, and Zuko laid his head in her lap.

"What did you two _do_ last night?" Katara asked, incredulous. "Suki says Sokka threw up _five times_ this morning."

"I was kind of hoping you might tell me."

"You don't remember?" She undid the braids in his hair and used the brush to smooth it out.

"Not at all. I was also hoping you might be able to tell me where my pants are."

Katara laughed, but tried to stifle it when Zuko groaned, putting his hands over his ears.

"They were in a tree in the moon peach grove."

This was all Sokka's fault. Zuko renewed his vow to hurt Sokka.

* * *

><p>AN: More fluff with the Dadko! This time, it's his hungover adventure with his daughter, Ira, named after Iroh. The line about Zuko not knowing where his pants are came from some black and white classic American movie. I only saw a commercial for it, and have no idea what it's called. The young, rich playboy went out to some wild party, and he wakes up on his couch and asks his butler where his pants are. The butler, quite crossly, goes "I don't know, sir. You didn't _have_ any pants." That line just cracks me up. Anyway, epic bromance shenanigans happened, and neither one of them will remember in the morning. A little fluff to counteract the dark I've been writing. There might be more Dadko and the Daughters because I imagine they would all be his little princesses, and they'd play him like an instrument, and he'd be a sucker for it each time.


End file.
